Enjoying the smell of a new car 'is like glue-sniffing'

The distinctive smell inside a new car, often a source of satisfaction to owners, comes from the same form of pollution that causes sick building syndrome, a study shows.

New car smell could contain up to 35 times the health limit set for volatile organic chemicals in cars in Japan, making its enjoyment akin to glue-sniffing. The chemicals found included ethyl benzene, xylene, formaldehyde and toluene used in paints and adhesives.

In high densities, these cause sick building syndrome: headaches, dizziness and respiratory problems.

The study by a Japanese public health researcher found that it took three years for the level in cars to fall below the limit set for vehicles by the Japanese health ministry in response to an increase in the number of car owners suffering from sick building syndrome.

Toshiaki Yoshida, the chief researcher at the Osaka Institute of Public Health, analysed the air inside a new minivan every week for the first two months and every month after that. The van was driven 3,500 miles a year.

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On the day after delivery, the van was found to contain 113 kinds of volatile organic chemicals, mostly hydrocarbons. It took four months to fall below the safe limit set by the state but shot above it again in the hot summer months even after two years.

Mr Yoshida recommends thorough ventilation and expressed the hope that manufacturers would develop materials that did not give off such chemicals.

Tim Williamson, of the National Society for Clean Air, said: "The sorts of chemicals found in the research are generally not found in the external environment and include some well-known toxins.

"So leaving the car at home is not only good for the environment, it is good for your health, too."

Al Clark, of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said there was no equivalent standard for in-car air quality in Europe, but all cars had to comply with rules on which materials could be used in their manufacture.